Mar 7th, 2010 by Elizabeth
Both Utah and California have Western Meadowlarks. They’re quite common birds, but it took awhile before I even saw them. I guess they blend well. This picture is from last July in Utah. The poor bird is very hot.
They frequently have their backs turned, which makes them harder to identify. From the front, it’s very clear that this is no sparrow, warbler or pipit.
Isn’t he amazing? You would think that they would be very visible with that yellow front, but here is a picture of his surroundings.
With all those yellow flowers, he’s actually hard to spot.
The last three pictures were taken in Palo Alto, California. I’ve seen meadowlarks since moving to Utah in Farmington Bay. For some reason, he was hanging out in a tree full of European Starlings.
one of these things is not like the other
But then later he was alone. I wish these pictures was clearer, but that day we were experiencing an inversion. I’m so glad that we haven’t had an inversion for several weeks now. You can actually feel the pollution when you inhale. It is a natural consequence of living in the valley, but increased pollution has caused a greater incidence of inversions over the years.
I’m going to treat myself to a new camera base this week, so hopefully next weeks’ pictures will be even better!
Posted in meadowlark, starling | 3 Comments »
Mar 3rd, 2010 by Elizabeth
So, you know how Conner likes to chew boxes?
The other day he was playing with the box while I was downstairs. I heard Audrey yelling, which usually means that Conner is getting in trouble. I walked towards the upstairs when I heard Conner yelling. His voice was muffled! As soon as I heard the muffled yell, I ran up the stairs.
.
Conner managed to fall off the cage along with the kleenex box and became trapped inside. How did he do that? The poor guy was terrified.
Conner loves that kleenex box. The kleenex box resides on top of Conner’s cage and during the day when he’s stuck inside his cage, he likes fling the box off the cage as far as possible. He’s managed to get it four feet away. I have no idea how! I should really get a webcam so I can watch Conner’s crazy antics.
Posted in cockatiel | No Comments »
Mar 1st, 2010 by Elizabeth
We have Mourning Doves in the neighborhood and I’m so glad.
They make lovely cooing noises in the morning.
Even when they’re cold, they look absolutely adorable.
yet so completely pitiful. I’m not sure that any more of his head could be stuffed into that puffy breast.
We had doves in California that enjoyed the cockatiel food. I even named one of them Medusa. Not for any symbolic reason, it simply sounded nice. Medusa liked to hang out with another Mourning Dove that had some Rock Pigeon in his blood because his chest was the purple sheen of a common pigeon. But Medusa didn’t mind.
.
In SLC we have whole groups of doves!
I could stare at them for hours
and my backyard has a pair that enjoy sifting through the grass for seeds that fell from the feeders. I guess the Mourning Doves are a bit too large to perch on the feeders. They also seem to generally prefer ground feeding.
They’re not very afraid of me. I can walk around in the same backyard and they watch me, but they don’t flee.
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Feb 28th, 2010 by Elizabeth
During one of our birding trips we came across a very rare species. We were driving down a road in a semi-residential area and had just spotted the sign for Ogden Waterfowl Management Area when on the side of the road I saw…A PEACOCK!
Um, “What?” you ask? I know. It’s not like we were in the middle of Tracy Aviary where they also have peacocks.
We were in the middle of a neighborhood. But then, hey, I found more! Maybe a female? I don’t know much about peacocks seeing as they’re native to Asia.
And then I saw even more on top of an outdoor aviary!
The outdoor aviary contained cockatiels, a ringneck, pigeons, and other birds. I was really surprised that they were all outside, given that it was in the 50’s. I’ve read that cockatiels can withstand temperatures in the 60’s, but I guess they can survive even lower temperatures.
Have you ever seen a white peacock? They’re quite beautiful.
You could see them from a mile away.
There weren’t many birds in the waterfowl management area, but it was still a great experience since I got to see peacocks.
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Feb 24th, 2010 by Elizabeth
Audrey does not fly, so his exercise involves a lot of walking. The distance from one edge of the bedroom to the cages is very long.
Audrey walks this distance every night. At first he hated it and would walk towards anything that looked like a perch, especially a finger.
But now Audrey is more or less obliging. He’s much more willing to walk when Conner accompanies him. It’s like they’re racing!
In addition to the exercise being great for Audrey, it helps him feel included. Every night Conner gets to fly and we make a very big deal by praising him and clapping. Audrey gets the same treatment after he completes his hike.
Audrey is almost 21. He’s very feisty for his age!
Posted in cockatiel | 6 Comments »
Feb 21st, 2010 by Elizabeth
Utah Lake in Provo, UT is a great place for birding. The lake has a variety of birds and there are marshes where more birds will hopefully hang out in the summer.
There are two long roads that make nice walkways for looking at the ducks.
Some fishermen drilled through the ice to fish. The Ring-Billed Gulls were watching the fishermen intently, hoping that they could snag a fish or at least have some scraps after the fishermen clean the fish.
It’s amazing how many gulls are in Utah. The picture below is from Farmington Bay. The ice was covered in birds.
Ring-Billed Gulls are the easiest Utah gull to identify. There’s no wondering about whether the eyes are pink or the wings have too much grey. These birds have a black ring on the beaks. That’s all you need to know.
But if you’d like more specifics, they have yellow eyes, yellow feet, and spots and streaks on their heads. Second winter California gulls also have a black ring on their beaks, but it’s barely a ring because there is very little yellow at the tip of their beaks. Also, their eyes are black and their feet are greenish/yellow. The Ring-Billed Gull has very distinctive yellow eyes that are lined in red.
In the picture below, you can see the black tips on the primary feathers. That’s very common in gulls. But on the left wing, can you make out a patch of white in the middle of the black? The white patch is called a mirror. People that are much more discerning than me can identify a gull based on the pattern of the mirror.
Since there are tons of gulls in Utah, I should start studying these things more closely.
Posted in gull | 2 Comments »
Feb 20th, 2010 by Elizabeth
Last week we headed out to Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management again. Salt Lake City and surrounding towns experience an inversion where the car exhaust and other pollutants stay stuck in the valley. Fortunately last week there was less of an inversion so you could see the mountains and the sky.
The temperature was about 20 degrees warmer than the last time, which caused much of the ice to melt.
Every year in February they poison the carp, which causes a massive amount of eagles to gather and hunt for fish. At one point I counted 11 Bald Eagles on the ice. Those black spots are eagles.
I was never able to get closer than maybe 150-200 feet, but for my first Bald Eagle experience this was very exciting.
Utah has the largest number of Bald Eagles in the winter other than Alaska. I’d like to go back and try to find some more before they migrate. They’re such noble looking birds.
There was supposedly a place where hundreds of eagles gathered, but it was a two mile hike to get to this speculative location. Maybe next year.
Posted in eagle | 2 Comments »
Feb 15th, 2010 by Elizabeth
Now that the cockatiels are housed in a room with only one small window, I’m not worried about them flying into glass. As a result, we’ve been letting some of Conner’s flight feathers grow out. You wouldn’t believe how far he can fly with only three partial primaries on one side. He’s been rather bad this past week too, now that he’s discovered that he can fly to the bed post and look outside.
The attic of this house was converted into a master bedroom so it’s huge, which makes it the perfect place for letting Conner fly.
Jon holds Conner on his hand, turns in a half circle and Conner takes off and flies across the room. Sometimes Conner gets so excited that he takes off before Jon has completed the half circle.
Conner has made amazing progress. At first he would fly to the end of the bed. Now he consistently lands on top of the bedpost and sometime even flies over the bedpost onto the pillows! This has become a nightly ritual that Conner clearly enjoys. He even makes a specific noise to tell Jon when he’s ready to fly.
Audrey also gets nightly exercise, but we’ll talk about that next week.
Posted in cockatiel | 7 Comments »
Feb 14th, 2010 by Elizabeth
As the weather gets warmer, we like to take walks in the neighborhood. I saw the strangest thing near us: a sled in a tree.
I would think that a fair amount of effort is involved in making sure that the sled is properly situated in the tree. Very curious.
Posted in random | 2 Comments »
Feb 13th, 2010 by Elizabeth
This week I traveled to San Francisco for business and I had enough time to visit Golden Gate Park.
Continue Reading »
Posted in hummingbird | 2 Comments »
